Sling TV Review – 2022

Sling TV is one of the leading cord cutting internet TV providers in the USA. Customers of Sling TV can access both live TV and an on demand video library to replace traditional cable and terrestrial TV services.
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Pros of Sling TV

  • Low cost home TV packages
  • Includes video on demand
  • Include cloud DVR
  • Latino and other foreign language packages available
  • Up to three simultaneous streams

Cons of Sling TV

  • Channel overlap between Sling Blue and Sling Orange
  • Only one stream allowed with Sling Orange

Table of Contents

Overview of Sling TV Internet Services

Sling TV is owned by Dish networks. The parent company runs a satellite TV service and it is suffering the loss of customers who are turning to internet-delivered live TV systems. Dish Network’s customer base has fallen from 14.1 million at the beginning of 2014 to 9.39 million at the end of 2019.

As Sling TV is one of the most successful video streaming services in the USA, cord cutting is causing Dish networks to lose customers in its main business while gaining customers in its Sling TV subsidiary. The Sling TV subscriber base rose from 54,000 in 2014 to 2.59 million at the end of 2019.

Sling TV is the second largest internet-based live TV provider. It is ahead of YouTube TV, which has just over 2 million subscribers, and behind Hulu, which has a little over 3.2 million members.

The market for live TV streaming services is still relatively small compared to video on-demand streaming services. The leader in that market, Netflix has 61 million subscribers in the USA and 167 million subscribers worldwide. Sling TV only operates within the United States and Puerto Rico.

Check out our roundup of Best Live TV Streaming Services

 

Who is Sling TV best for?

The Sling TV marketing strategy targets the 18 to 35 age range. It attempts to catch new householders when they are the point of selecting an entertainment provider for the first time. As such, it competes head on with cable TV providers and satellite TV systems, including its own parent company, Dish Networks.

In order to tailor its services to the younger market, Sling TV created smaller channel bundles than those offered by traditional cable TV carriers. The aim of this strategy is to be able to offer a home TV service at a lower price than the big cable systems. Sling TV also introduced more flexibility by making more addon channels available.

Sling TV doesn’t carry local TV broadcasters or regional sports networks because its research shows that a typical cord cutter will install an antenna to receive local terrestrial transmitted stations. This strategy also enables the service to keep its costs low. So, overall, Sling TV is best for savvy young householders who are prepared to combine transmission systems in order to get the best TV available at the lowest possible price.

How to access Sling TV

Sling TV is only available over the internet, so all subscribers to the service need to have an active internet service in one form or other in order to receive the service. Home wifi systems make it easier to get the Sling TV service onto a TV set. Smart TVs are able to receive the Sling TV service directly from the internet without any intermediate device.

Other ways to get Sling TV onto a TV set are through set-top boxes and game consoles. Sling TV plays through the AirTV Player, Amazon Fire TV Stick and Amazon Fire TV Cube, any Android TV box, Apple TV 4th Generation and 4K, Mi Box, Roku, the TiVo Stream 4K, and the Xbox One game console.

Sling TV can also be streamed to mobile devices with apps for Android-based phones and tablets and the Kindle Fire tablet. There is an app for iOS devices, which includes iPhone and iPads. Computers running Windows, Linux, and Mac OS can also receive Sling TV over the internet. The Sling TV service can be transmitted from mobile devices and computers to a TV set over the home wifi system to TV sets with the Google Chromecast streaming device.

Some Points About Sling TV

The Sling TV streaming services feature:

  • Free access – Sling TV allows free access to its Sling Blue service every day from 5 pm to Midnight.
  • Low cost bundles – Sling TV has two service bundles, called Sling Blue and Sling Orange.
  • On demand service – Sling TV subscribers get on demand services as well as live TV.
  • Cloud DVR – A cloud DVR service is also included in Sling TV packages.

Sling TV Pricing Overview

Sling TV offers two service bundles, which are called Sling Blue and Sling Orange. Both bundles cost the same at $30 per month with a $10 discount down to $20 for the first month. Sling TV seems to be phasing out its Sling Orange service because it doesn’t feature the plan on its home page, which has a prominent focus on the Sling Blue service. Another indicator that Sling Orange won’t be around for much longer is the fact that it only includes 32 live channels compared to the 50 channels available with Sling Blue for the same price.

Sling Blue includes general entertainment channels, sports networks, and children’s TV. The channel list includes AMC, BBC America, TBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, Fox, Comedy Central, NFL Network, NBC SN, and, Cartoon Network, and Nick Jr. Although Sling Orange includes fewer channels, they are high-value services, such a the ESPN package of channels and the Disney Channel, which aren’t included with Sling Blue.

Sling TV offers a large selection of addons, such as Showtime for $10 per month, a Starz package for $9 per month, or the Epix cinema package for $5 per month.

The Sling Latino service offers channels in Spanish form Latin America. This costs only $10 per month. It can be subscribed to in combination with Sling Orange or Sling Blue for $35 per month. That means that the Sling Latino addon to Sling Blue or Sling Orange costs just $5 per month.

The Sling International service offers small bundles of channels from a different country. For example, six channels from France for $15 or larger packages form countries such a Brazil or India.

Sling Blue, Sling Latino, and Sling International plans allow three simultaneous streams of the service. Sling Orange customers can only stream to one device at a time.

Sling TV Customer Service

The Sling TV website has a Help Center section that includes a searchable knowledgebase with tips and advice. The support team can also be contacted through a live chat facility, by email, and by phone.